Idol Finale Recap
As the final Idol hopefuls took the stage last night, American knew they were in for a treat when Adam Lambert and Kris Allen faced off in one of the best finales in the history of the show. Kris had won the coin toss and he chose to go last, which is always a safer bet.
Round One: Adam Lambert, predictably, sang “Mad World”, which was his best performance on the season. But unfortunately it fell a little short in comparison to the first go at the song, leaving Kris to pick up the pieces with his piano accompanied choice of “Ain’t No Sunshine”. Kris’ smooth vocal and new arrangement left me, and Simon, giving the round to him.
Round Two: Idol creator, Simon Fuller, chose some oldies, but goodies for the contestants. First, Adam gave what seemed to be the best performance by any contestant of the season with his original take on “A Change Is Gonna Come”. He killed it and basically there was no following that as Kris took on Marvin Gaye’s classic, “What’s Goin’ On”. The song was arranged well, but unfortunately I agreed with Simon that it was too “small” for the finale setting. Round two goes to Adam!
Round Three: Both contestants sang the Kara DioGaurdi penned coronation song, “No Boundaries” which really didn’t fit either artist very well. Adam’s version was a little pitchy and he didn’t really perform it, as he has all season – maybe cause he had just learned the song days before the finale? And just when I thought Kris had it in the bag, he performed. His version was even worse than Lambert’s, bad notes, forgotten lyrics, and times where the key was completely off. And the Idol producers did a piss-poor job at hiding the teleprompter showing the lyrics as they sang, which made Kris’ lyrical mis-step even less forgivable. The judges went easy on both and asked America to vote based on the whole season. Unfortunately, based on who sucked less, I give the round to Lambert.
To close the show, that was already running long, they threw it to Carrie Underwood who got cut off in the middle of singing, “Home Sweet Home”. Check out the front half of the song below, for those whose DVR’s might have missed it.
And finally, I think both are very talented and will both have successful careers in their genres, so it’s a tough call as to who will win. Lambert has been getting some poor media attention and I have a feeling Gokey’s votes will go to Kris, making him almost unbeatable. I really don’t think it would be an”upset” either way – I guess we’ll wait and see.
It’s been a fun season folks and I look forward to bringing you the news from these two talented guys as they continue their journey to super-stardom. Now, grab a cold beverage, pop some popcorn, and enjoy the finale!
